The Cyclops (1957)

An expedition to Mexico finds and does battle with a mutated 25-foot man with one big eye.

Director:

Bert I. Gordon

Writer:

Bert I. Gordon

Stars:

James Craig, Gloria Talbott, Lon Chaney Jr.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
James Craig	...	Russ Bradford
Gloria Talbott	...	Susan Winter
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Martin 'Marty' Melville (as Lon Chaney)
Tom Drake	...	Lee Brand
Duncan 'Dean' Parkin	...	The Cyclops (Bruce Barton) (as Duncan Parkin)
Vicente Padula	...	The Governor (as Vincent Padula)
Marlene Kloss	...	The Salesgirl
Manuel López	...	The Policeman (as Manuel Lopez)

Storyline

Susan Winter undertakes an expedition to a remote area of Mexico, hoping to find her fiance, Bruce Barton, whos plane-crashed there some time ago. The area is suspected to have a good supply of uranium, so Susan has promoted this to wealthy Martin Melville to get money for her expenses. In addition to Melville, she is accompanied by guide Russ Bradford and pilot Lee Brand in his small-engine craft. But the plane crashes, stranding the four in an isolated valley, which they soon discover is highly radioactive and inhabited by mutated life forms - giant insects, enormous lizards, and a 25-foot-tall human male with a deformed face, just one eye, and only brute animal instincts to feed and protect its turf...

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Plot Keywords:

mexico | creature feature | radiation made monster | stock footage | hawk | 

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Taglines:

SEE ONE-EYED CYCLOPS -- BEASTS HUGE AS DINOSAURS -- PYTHONS 75 FT. LONG (original ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 July 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Maldição do Monstro

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

B&H Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

66 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The airplane depicted in the movie is a Stinson Voyager.

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Goofs

For a couple of scenes in the middle of the movie, Gloria Talbott's shirt changes from light to dark, then back to light again, but with the same torn right sleeve.

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Connections

Featured in Cheezy Fantasy Trailers (2006)

User Reviews

Not Even Gloria Can Save This One

Four adventurers go searching on a radio-active island for the girl's lost love. What they find is a couple days work for a special effects department.

Okay, the reason I tuned in was to catch cult favorite Gloria Talbott in another of her Z-grade drive-in films. She does manage to get into a tight sweater, but she also looks like she swallowed a lemon. There's none of that charming fright girl from her classic I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958). Here she just looks glum, like she can't wait to exit the set. Too bad.

The rest of the movie almost reaches camp level. The monster's make-up looks like they stuck a billiard ball in one eye and left a Kleenex on his cheek. Besides that endless grunting almost left me hearing impaired. Then too, Chaney acts like he's going to make up for the general lack of motivation all by himself. For former A-movie actors like Craig and Drake, this must have suggested the end of the road, which may be why they just walk through their parts.

Sure, it's easy to make fun of a drive-in cheapo like this. But even on that lowly scale, this Bronson Canyon, LA Arboretum, special is nothing else than a bad horror movie, dear Gloria or not.